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Φως morphology question
Posted: December 24th, 2024, 10:19 am
by Stonemtn
I'm currently studying through Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce and I'm trying to figure out why φως ends with a "ς" since the stem is φωτ and the word is third declension, neuter. I thought the "τ" simply dropped off on words like that (i.e. πνευμα). Thanks for any direction.
Re: Φως morphology question
Posted: December 24th, 2024, 12:29 pm
by Jason Hare
Stonemtn wrote: ↑December 24th, 2024, 10:19 am
I'm currently studying through Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce and I'm trying to figure out why φως ends with a "ς" since the stem is φωτ and the word is third declension, neuter. I thought the "τ" simply dropped off on words like that (i.e. πνευμα). Thanks for any direction.
That’s the fun of third declension. It has a lot of exceptions! Sometimes you just need to learn the words as they appear.
Re: Φως morphology question
Posted: December 24th, 2024, 4:22 pm
by Jonathan Robie
Morphology is not my forte, but I think this is close to a correct explanation of the declension of these two nouns. As always, jump in and correct anything I got wrong.
Exercise for the reader: try creating similar tables for these nouns:
ὄρος (mountain, stem: ὀρετ-)
γένος (race, kind, stem: γενετ-)
φῶς (light, stem: φωτ-)

- phos.jpg (183.98 KiB) Viewed 27571 times
πνεῦμα (spirit, wind, stem: πνευματ-)

- pneumat.jpg (206.32 KiB) Viewed 27571 times
Re: Φως morphology question
Posted: December 27th, 2024, 1:51 pm
by Stonemtn
Thanks for the reply.
I understand where φως comes from if the 3rd declension, singular neuter has a ς for the ending as your chart shows, but Mounce teaches that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending (like your πνευμα in the lower chart). Thus you would expect the τ just to drop off and be left with φω rather than φως.
I guess φως is an exception for the rule that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending then?
Re: Φως morphology question
Posted: December 28th, 2024, 3:27 pm
by Jason Hare
Stonemtn wrote: ↑December 27th, 2024, 1:51 pm
I guess φως is an exception for the rule that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending then?
Probably because the one-syllable φῶ would be difficult to hold on to. The word would not stand out in pronunciation. No other third-declension neuters with -ς jump to mind.
Re: Φως morphology question
Posted: December 31st, 2024, 7:49 am
by Jean Putmans
Could the reason be that φως in fact is φαος, belogning to a group of Neutra on -ος: δε(ι)ος, κλε(ι)ος, χρε(ι)ος, σπε(ι)ος, that doesn’t need the -τ- in the Declension?
(See Kühner-Blass, Vol 1, p. 436:
https://archive.org/details/p1ausfhrlic ... 6/mode/2up )